Hopalong

These little shorts had a matching shirt some 65 years ago when our grandmother, Mimi (Ruth Anderson), gave them to brother Rick. He loved them and he loved Hopalong Cassidy. When he outgrew them, they were put aside until younger brother, Ken, grew into them. Ken loved them even more than Rick did, because not only were they Hopalong Cassidy shorts, but they had belonged to a hero, his big brother Rick. Somewhere along the way, the shirt wore out and was discarded. When the lining of the shorts became too tight, Ken cut it out, so that he could continue to wear the shorts in comfort and extend their life. When at last he could no longer squeeze into them, he still could not bear to part with them. And so, he kept them, packing them up and taking them along with him as he moved from apartment to apartment in his adult life. Still unable to dispose of them, he decided to give them to Colleen’s boys. By that time, Ken and I agreed they were too much a treasure, approaching heirloom status, to be worn, so I had them framed and they hung on the bedroom wall of the Paine boys’ bedroom. Boyish scuffling broke the glass and the frame but left the shorts undamaged and somehow they ended up back in my possession. I think it is time they were returned to their rightful owner, so I’m sending them back to Rick.